Food delivery platform Zomato has started grocery delivery in 80 Indian cities. This move comes in the backdrop of coronavirus when the restaurant industry has taken a hit.

Highlights

It has been launched in the UAE as well and will soon launch in Australia and Portugal.

Zomato has also taken initiatives like “Feed the daily wager” and “Zomato Gold Fund”

Zomato has started grocery delivery in 80 Indian cities, prioritising essentials, in the backdrop of coronavirus pandemic.

These services will most likely help a lot of people struggling to get their essentials as they abide by the 21-day-lockdown announced by the government in order to contain the pandemic.

"This has already been launched in India and the UAE, and will be live in other markets over the next few days," Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said in a statement reported by IANS.

The food delivery platform is set to launch its takeaway service in Portugal and Australia to support restaurants.

Goyal also said that the proceeds from Zomato Gold subscriptions would go towards supporting restaurant workers in need and that users will get an additional year of Gold for free.

"Restaurants face an unprecedented challenge amid the lockdown. Restaurateurs are fighting to pay their rentals, and afford even the most basic livelihood to the workers -- cooks, servers, housekeeping," Goyal said in a tweet.

He further added that the Zomato Gold Support Fund was started "to support these wonderful restaurateurs, and help them survive this lockdown."

"Starting today, users can contribute to the fund by purchasing an annual Gold membership for Rs 1200 -- and they will get a 2-year membership (instead of one year) as a token of our gratitude."

Zomaoto has already given an extension of 2 months to Gold memberships at no additional cost.

This can be availed by Zomaoto users in India, the UAE, Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Lebanon, Turkey, New Zealand, Portugal and Qatar.

"The world has come to a halt, and unfortunately, the restaurant industry that we are in, is one of the worst hit. It is in times like these when we really need to rise to the occasion and support each other to the best of our abilities," Goyal emphasized.

Zomato has taken many initiatives where feeding the daily wage earners is concerned.

"Feed the daily wager" an initiative by Zomato has raised Rs 25 crore from individuals and corporates. Zomato has raised 1 Lakh ration kits in more than 20 cities tonhelp the families of daily wage earners.

Earlier this week, Amazon Pantry, too resumed its services in some cities for select pincodes. The Bengaluru-headquartered company resumed its services in select pincodes of Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune.

Amit Agarwal, country head of Amazon India on Twitter wrote, "These are extraordinary times and we are single-mindedly focused on getting essentials to you. We continue to work with state governments to get clearance and with the district authorities to get curfew passes."